The lady’s not for turning

The Duchess of Rutland is so devoted to Belvoir Castle, not even her cheating husband could provoke her to leave

The Duchess of Rutland gives a video tour of her historic home at Belvoir Castle

Most women, on discovering that their husband was engaged in a long-term
affair, would be tempted to throw him out of the marital home. Things were a
little more complicated for the Duchess of Rutland.

As well as her five children, aged 9 to 19, she had the family home to
consider: a fairy-tale gothic castle with more than 100 rooms, set in 16,000
acres of prime Leicestershire woodland and farmland. Dissolving her marriage
would have played havoc with the birthright of her eldest son, 13-year-old
Charles, the Marquis of Granby, who will one day become the 12th Duke of
Rutland. It would also have meant throwing away a lifetime’s work preserving
Belvoir Castle as an independent going concern.

So she and the duke came to an arrangement. In September, a confessional
article in a Sunday newspaper revealed that the duchess, otherwise known as
Emma Rutland, 50, now occupies the